(From our church-wide devotion book at Pinedale Christian Church, "You 2.0”)

If you are a parent, or if you had parents, you probably remember the final instructions rattled off before leaving the house for an adventure (or maybe just a grocery run): 
Drive safe.
Be careful.
Use your head.
Don’t follow the crowd.
Call if you need me.
I trust you... don’t blow it. 

At the end of Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians, he was doing the same thing. My Bible even labels the verses 5:12-24, Final Instructions. 

I remember when our daughter was heading out the door to study abroad, and it suddenly hit my husband, “I haven’t given her enough guidance!” He grabbed her by the shoulders, looked her straight in the eyes, almost nose-to-nose, and sternly said, “Don’t trust ANYONE!” She didn’t quite know how to process that but told us years later that those words stuck and kept her from getting into misguided situations.

In his final instructions to the Thessalonians, Paul warns, “Do not quench the Holy Spirit.” Did you even know that was possible? When you think about it, it seems rather unlikely that a mere mortal could hamper God in any way. So what does this actually mean for you and me in our everyday lives? If we remember back to the day the Holy Spirit arrived on the scene at Pentecost, we may begin to understand.

In Acts, Jesus told the disciples that when the Holy Spirit came, they would receive power and become witnesses for Him. And that’s exactly what happened. The disciples prepared themselves to receive the Holy Spirit, and He Spirit came down on each one and strengthened them. They devoted themselves to preaching, teaching, fellowship, and prayer. Perhaps they remember that when Jesus was baptized, the Holy Spirit descended on Him and was led Him to into the desert. When He returned, the Bible said He was filled with the power of the Holy Spirit.

In John 16:7-15, Jesus told his disciples, “Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. When he comes, he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment: in regard to sin, because men do not believe in me; in regard to righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; and in regard to judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned. I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. But when the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and make it known to you.” The Holy Spirit is a power-packed, counseling, convicting guide, that is our gift from God.

In other words, Jesus made sure that when He left, we would still be filled with His presence and “superpower.” But here’s the problem, we don’t unpack it. Jesus showed us that even He needed the Holy Spirit as He walked through the darkest times in His life, yet we hold up our hand as if to say, “I got this.” We leave the cape in the closet and walk around kryptonite all day. For instance: 

• God’s character is love, and anything that pushes against that character grieves Him. When we turn away from His love, we quench what He wants to do in us. 
• The Holy Spirit’s task is to sanctify us with truth and lead us in the right ways to live. However, we quench the Holy Spirit when we refuse to pray and ask God to give us the daily guidance we will surely need to withstand the temptations and land mines. 
• We quench the Holy Spirit when we don’t believe the power is already inside us, waiting to be released. 
• We quench the Holy Spirit when we walk away from our purpose.  • We quench the Holy Spirit when we neglect His grace and become ungrateful. 
• We quench the Holy Spirit when we neglect The Word of God that opens our eyes to the truth. 
• We quench the Holy Spirit in mind, conduct, and conversations that ignore the nudges He provides to protect us from going astray. 
• We quench the Holy Spirit with prejudice, pride, and selfishness.

(Con't)